A conventional vehicle occupant weight sensing apparatus includes a weight sensor placed between a vehicle seat frame and a support mount for the seat. The sensor is directly within the vertical load path of the occupant's weight and responds to the weight of the occupant of the seat. In addition, the sensor may respond to torque loads between the seat and the support mount. Since the seat frame and the support mount must withstand large lateral loads (i.e., during crash conditions), typically the sensor also must withstand large lateral loads.
Accordingly, the sensor is typically constructed to withstand lateral loads. This may lessen the sensitivity of the sensor in the vertical load path. Thus, the sensor may not produce a reliable weight output signal.
A weight sensing apparatus which decouples the lateral and vertical loads would allow the construction of a weight sensor that does not have to withstand lateral loads and thereby may be more likely to produce a more accurate occupant weight output signal.